JAN VRIEND

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Jan Vriend

From the start, Jan Vriend has been a musical omnivore who combines a strongly modernistic approach with openness to the interests of and needs for a good musical education. As a co-founder of the Asko Ensemble, he has had far-reaching influence on Dutch musical life. His music, initially influenced ...Full biography

Instruments

componist, piano

Biography Jan Vriend

From the start, Jan Vriend has been a musical omnivore who combines a strongly modernistic approach with openness to the interests of and needs for a good musical education. As a co-founder of the Asko Ensemble, he has had far-reaching influence on Dutch musical life. His music, initially influenced by composers such as Edgar Varèse and Iannis Xenakis, has evolved over the years to a more open idiom that leaves greater room for allusions to and use of stylistic devices from the past. Typical are its grand gestures, exuberance and all-encompassing nature. “My current style is not so readily described,” he said in de Volkskrant in 2009. “I go in a new direction with each piece. That is both the difficulty and the adventure.”

1955 - 1960

Jan Vriend (born November 10, 1938, in Benningbroek) studies the piano with Else Krijgsman, music theory with Anthon van der Horst and Jan Felderhof, and composition with Ton de Leeuw at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He follows the electronic music course at the Institute for Sonology.

1961 - 1966

Vriend conducts various choirs, ensembles and orchestras. In 1965, he is a co-founder and first conductor of the Amsterdam Student Chamber Orchestra (ASKO, by its Dutch initials; currently the Asko|Schönberg), of which he is the artistic director until 1971. In 1966, he wins the Schnittger Organ Prize for his composition 'Herfst' [Autumn, 1965].

1967

Upon completing his studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory, he is awarded the Prize for Composition. He follows a course with Iannis Xenakis at the Schola Cantorum in Paris.

1968 - 1969

Jan Vriend teaches music theory and conducts contemporary music ensembles at the Utrecht Conservatory.

1970 - 1975

Vriend is awarded the 1970 Gaudeamus International Composition Prize for 'Huantan' (1968). He studies mathematics and related subjects, principally with an eye on their application in music. In 1971, he presents with the composer Jos Kunst a series of radio programmes on “various ways to listen to music”.

1984 - 1994

Vriend moves to Gloucestershire (England), where from 1989 he conducts the New Stroud Orchestra.

1995

In the discography you will find all recordings that have been released listed chronologically. We restrict ourselves to the title, the type of audio, year of publication or recording, label, list of guest musicians, plus any comments on the issue.